The ATARI Home Computer Division currently offers four upgrades on the
Home Computer product line. Each of these upgrades is explained below.
GTIA Upgrade
The GTIA (General Television Interface Adaptor) chip offers enhanced
graphics
capabilities over the CTIA chip, which was the original graphics chip
used in the
400 and 800 computers. The GTIA offers 12 different graphics modes, 16
colors,
and 16 intensities. The GTIA is fully compatible with software written
for the
CTIA since it has a superset of the CTIA's capabilities. The CTIA was
the
standard chip with all 400 and 800 computers manufactured prior to
November, 1981.
Atari's Regional Service Centets will perform this upgrade on
outofwarranty-units for $62.52 ($22.52 in parts, $40.00 Iabor).
810 ROM C
An 810 drive with ROM C and DOS 2.0 will offer improved performance in
read and write operations between the 810 and the 400 or 800. ROM C causes
diskettes to be formatted with an improved
sector layout which is more efficient than that used by earlier 810
control ROM's.
ROM C is automatically included in drives manufactured after October,
1981. Atari's Regional Service Centers will perform the upgrade on
out-ofwarranty units for $53.56 ($8.56 in parts, $45.00 in labor).
810 units still in the 90-day warranty period will be upgraded free of
charge, on request.
Operating System Version B
The OS ROM's in the 400 and 800 are available in a revision B form,
which provide
a higher level of system performance by improving the operating system
peripheral
I/0 control routines. OS version B eliminates annoying pauses in disk
and printer
operations that sometimes occurred with OS version A. OS version B is
compatible with DOS 2.
OS version B ROM's have been automatically included in 400 and 800
computers manufactured since November, 1981. Atari's Regional Service
Centers will perform the upgrade on out-of warranty
units for $49.78 ($30.00 in labor, $19.78 in parts). 400's and 800's
still in the warranty period will be upgraded free of charge.
810 Data Separator Board
The Data Separator Board for the 810 improves the drive's ability to
distinguish
between data pulses and clock pulses on the disk. This is necessary in
part
because of the variations in the characteristics of different
diskettes. The data
separator lowers the chance of a misread from the disk.
Data separator boards have been a standard part of all drives produced
since October, 1981. Older drives that are out-of-warranty may be upgraded at
an Atari Regional Service Center for a charge of $135.61 ($40.00 Iabor, $95.61
parts).
The HCD Factory Authorized Service Centers will also perform these
upgrades on request, although their prices may differ from the RSC's. Any 810
still
in the warranty period will be upgraded free of charge.
ANTIC VOL. 1, NO. 4 / OCTOBER 1982 / PAGE 14